Nuapada: Amid ongoing simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Odisha, the Maoists were engaged in an encounter with security forces in a forest near Chhattisgarh border in Nuapada district.
According to sources, the Special Operation Group (SOG) received reliable information that a group of 20-30 Maoists were camping in the forest of Shivanarayanpur under Komna police station in the district. The SOG personnel launched an operation in the forest to trace the Maoist camp at around 3 am on Tuesday.
After the SOG jawans went to deep forest, the Maoists spotted them and opened fire. The SOG team also retaliated, and exchange of fire continued for some time. An SOG jawan, identified as Prakash Sai, was injured in the firing. He was admitted to a private hospital in Raipur of Chhattisgarh.
Even as the security forces were advancing in the forest, the Maoists again attacked them by opening fire at around 8 am. This time, the SOG team resorted to heavy firing forcing the Maoists to flee the spot.
Later, the security forces found the Maoist camp and seized different materials of the group of banned outfit from there. The seized materials included a country-made gun, 10 IEDs, household articles and Rs 4 lakh of Rs 2,000 denomination notes.
Nuapada SP GR Raghavendra said the personnel of SOG, COBRA and CRPF were continuing search operation in the sanctuary of Sunabeda to trace the Maoists who had escaped during fire exchange.
